Kansas City Property Management FAQs

SCUDO (pronounced skoo-doh) is Italian for "shield," and that's the whole idea behind the company: protect your investment. We're a full-service real estate brokerage and property management company, locally owned and operated out of Overland Park, Kansas, serving the entire Kansas City Metro on both the Kansas and Missouri sides. Beyond property management, that means we can also help you buy, sell, or evaluate investment properties, since management and real estate are really the same relationship at different stages. Our mission is to enrich the local community by caring for the people and properties we have the privilege to serve, which shows up less in a mission statement and more in how pricing is published, how guarantees are structured, and how disputes are handled rather than buried.

Yes, and it's not just a marketing line. SCUDO was founded and is still run locally by Raymond and Brittney Orellano out of the Overland Park office, not a call center in another state or a franchise territory. Ray brought real estate experience from New York before focusing on Kansas City and is licensed across multiple states; Brittney leads the client and community side of the business. That local ownership is part of why the company has picked up recognitions like Best Property Management in Overland Park (Quality Business Awards USA, 2024) and a Silver win in the Kansas City Favorites Property Management Awards, local distinctions, not national ones bought with a marketing budget.

Three things, mainly. First, we intentionally cap how large our portfolio gets instead of chasing every available door in the metro, on the theory that a manager stretched across thousands of units can't give any single one of them real attention. Second, we publish our numbers: pricing plans, guarantee terms, even our sub-1% portfolio-wide rent delinquency rate are posted for anyone to see rather than something you discover after signing. Third, we're structured so a live person answers the phone during business hours, and residents can always reach a real 24/7 maintenance line instead of a ticketing system. None of that is unique to us individually, but the combination is harder to find than you'd expect.

NARPM (the National Association of Residential Property Managers) sets the bar most serious property managers hold themselves to: ongoing education, a formal code of ethics, current knowledge of landlord-tenant law, consistent and legally defensible screening criteria, and established relationships with vetted maintenance vendors. It's the difference between a manager who learns the job through trial and error on your dime, and one trained specifically to avoid the expensive mistakes before they happen. It's one of the standards our team holds itself to.

We primarily manage single-family homes, but we also run a dedicated multi-family property management line for owners with duplexes, fourplexes, or larger buildings. If you own several properties or a higher-end investment property, ask about multi-unit and luxury-property pricing; discounts apply there that aren't reflected in our standard published rates.

SCUDO covers the full Kansas City Metro on both sides of the state line: most of Johnson County, Kansas (Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Leawood, Shawnee, Mission, Merriam, Fairway, Prairie Village, Westwood, Roeland Park, Gardner, Spring Hill, De Soto, Bucyrus, Edgerton) and the Missouri side (Kansas City proper, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty, North Kansas City, Parkville, and neighborhoods like Westport, Brookside, Crossroads, Waldo, and the Country Club Plaza). That two-state footprint matters more than it sounds like it should: it means genuinely different landlord-tenant law depending on which side of the line your property sits on, which is exactly what the Kansas & Missouri Landlord-Tenant Law section below walks through.

Two ways. The fastest is requesting a free, no-obligation rental analysis online, which gives you a realistic rent estimate before you commit to anything. Or call us directly at (913) 359-5659, or grab a slot on our online scheduling calendar to talk it through with a person first. Either way, we walk through your goals and answer questions before ever moving to onboarding.

We'll need your property details, which our online onboarding form speeds up considerably, a signed W-9 (this feeds your year-end 1099, which reports all rent paid to you for the year), and bank information for direct deposit. If your property already has a tenant in place, we'll also need the current lease, the ledger, any open work orders, and resident contact information so nothing falls through the cracks during the handoff.

A vacant property can typically be onboarded within one business day once we have everything we need. An occupied property usually takes three to five business days, since we're also reconciling the existing lease, verifying the security deposit amount, and reaching out to the current resident.

Yes, and it's one of the more common ways new clients come to us. Just introduce us to your current manager by email so everyone's on the same page, and we'll take it from there, including reconciling the resident's lease, rent balance, and security deposit against the ledger, the previous manager's records, or your own if there's ever a discrepancy.

This is exactly why owners hire us for a transition instead of handling it themselves. We reach out to residents through every available channel — phone, email, text, mail if needed — to explain where rent goes now, how to submit maintenance requests, and what's changing versus staying the same. We honor whatever lease is already in place, or issue a new one if nothing valid exists. Occasionally there's a disagreement about a rent balance or deposit amount from the old arrangement; when that happens, we work it out using the ledger, the previous manager's records, or yours, whichever is available.

Absolutely, and honestly, we love working with first-timers. Plenty of our clients come to us precisely because they'd rather not learn Kansas or Missouri landlord-tenant law, fair housing compliance, and vendor coordination through an expensive mistake on their first rental. We handle the parts that keep new owners up at night: screening, legal notices, maintenance triage, and the paperwork trail that protects you if something ever ends up in court.

Every client signs a property management agreement (a PMA) before we take over, and it spells out the term, renewal, and cancellation terms in plain language; it's not boilerplate you're expected to sign and forget. Your SCUDO contact will walk through it section by section before you sign anything, so you know exactly what you're agreeing to and what it takes to exit if your circumstances change. Because specific terms can be refined over time, ask for the current version when you're ready to talk specifics rather than relying on anything general written here.

Full plan details are posted at scudore.com/pricing; no need to call for a quote. Properties with multiple units or higher price points may qualify for adjusted rates; ask if you own more than one rental or a luxury property.

All three share the same foundation: marketing, tenant screening, lease preparation, rent collection, a 24/7 owner and tenant portal, and adherence to landlord-tenant law. Where they diverge is which extras are bundled in versus billed separately.

• Silver (100% lease-up, 7.9%/month): the most à la carte of the three. Property setup runs an extra $99, vacancy management is $79/month while the property sits empty, renewal is 25% of one month's rent, eviction filing is $99 if it comes to that, and an eviction court appearance is $150.
• Gold (89% lease-up, 8.9%/month): property setup, vacancy management, and eviction filing are all folded in at no extra charge, and customized financial reports are included rather than fee-based. Renewal stays at 25%, and an eviction court appearance is still $150 if needed.
• Platinum (50% lease-up, 12.9%/month): the lowest lease-up fee of the three, in exchange for the highest monthly rate. Renewal drops to a flat $150 instead of a percentage, and an eviction court appearance is fully included.

One line item stays the same across all paid plans, regardless of tier: a Comprehensive Property Condition Report costs $99 whether you're on Silver, Gold, or Platinum; it's the one fee that isn't tier-differentiated.

Yes. Our Placement Only plan is a 100% lease-up fee with no ongoing monthly management. It still includes a full rental analysis, marketing, showings, and pet and tenant screening, and we collect the first month's rent and security deposit before handing things off. The one meaningful difference from our managed plans: your lease will be a standard KCRAR (Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors) lease rather than SCUDO's own lease, which has been refined and legally reviewed across hundreds of tenancies. If you're comfortable handling rent collection, maintenance, and lease enforcement yourself after that, this is the lightest-touch option we offer.

We don't believe in hidden fees, which is why the full breakdown, down to the $99 eviction filing fee on Silver or the $150 eviction court appearance fee, is published at scudore.com/pricing instead of surfacing after you've signed. If a fee applies to your plan, it's on that page.

No, SCUDO doesn't charge a vacancy fee. The one exception is if we're overseeing a larger make-ready or renovation project between tenants, which carries a 10% project management fee.

The Investor Benefit Package is an optional $28.99/month add-on available on every paid plan. It bundles utility setup and transfer during vacancy and turnover, a minimum of two third-party inspections per year covering your property's major systems (HVAC, roof, gutters, foundation) with a written report and preventative maintenance recommendations, and access to an Investor Dashboard showing real-time cash flow, off-market listing access, and pro forma tools if you're evaluating your next purchase. It's optional on every tier, including Platinum, but a lot of owners like converting a handful of unpredictable annual costs into one flat, boring monthly number.

No. If we're leasing your property, we handle marketing, screening, paperwork, and a move-in inspection, and we collect the first month's rent and security deposit before you owe us anything for placement. Ask about our Security Deposit Guarantee option if you'd rather not collect a full deposit upfront in certain situations.

Marketing means professional listing photography and copy, a data-backed rental analysis to price it right from day one, weekly written updates on leads, showings, and feedback while the property is vacant, and a 24/7 showing scheduler with a dedicated leasing line so renters can tour on their own schedule. Once it's leased, you'll also get periodic market and portfolio reporting, so you're tracking performance over time, not just during lease-up.

Most SCUDO properties lease in under 30 days, backed by our 30-Day Rental Guarantee if we miss that window. Actual timing depends on the home's condition, price point, and season; winter is reliably the slowest stretch in KC. We have no incentive to drag it out: we respond to leads immediately and offer showings seven days a week. The flip side is we also won't rush to fill a vacancy with an applicant who doesn't meet screening standards just to stop the clock, since a bad placement usually costs more over time than a few extra weeks vacant.

Kansas City's rental market doesn't lean on MLS data the way home sales do; the listings there are too sparse and inconsistent to be reliable, so pricing comes from a blend of rental comparison tools, our own portfolio data, and market knowledge built over years in this specific metro. It's part art, part data, and the final number reflects both.

We'd steer you away from that. A listing that sits too long starts to look stale to renters the same way an overpriced house does to buyers, and every month a property sits vacant costs roughly 2% of your annual rental income, more than most owners save by holding out for a higher number. Adjusting the price down after a slow start is almost always more expensive than pricing it right the first time.

Every applicant, co-signer, and roommate goes through the same process: a credit check, criminal history, eviction records, and a sex offender and terrorism watch list search, plus income and employment verification and open banking verification, which confirms income and account activity directly rather than trusting a pay stub someone could edit. We also personally call every landlord reference listed, not just check a box that one was provided. Full published screening criteria are at scudore.com/application-requirements, so applicants know the bar going in, and you know exactly what standard is being applied to your property.

We do, and we'd actively encourage it. Roughly three-quarters of the renter pool has a pet, so a no-pets policy quietly shrinks your applicant pool and adds time on market. Every pet goes through pet screening, documented and photographed for approval or denial, at no additional cost to you, and service or support animals are verified separately since they're protected differently under fair housing law. We also require every resident to carry both liability insurance, which protects your property, and renter's insurance, which protects their own belongings, so a pet-related incident isn't riding entirely on the security deposit.

The lease is between you and the tenant, with SCUDO signing on your behalf as your appointed agent under the management agreement. If you're on one of our managed plans, that lease is SCUDO's own, shaped by managing hundreds of tenancies and reviewed annually by outside legal counsel, not a generic template. That matters more than it sounds like it should: it covers situations a first-time landlord's downloaded lease usually doesn't anticipate.

No. SCUDO used to allow this in some cases, but for liability and practical reasons we no longer do; every security deposit is held in a secure trust account rather than with the owner directly. It protects you as much as the tenant: if a dispute ever ends up in front of a judge, a documented trust account is a much stronger position than "I have it somewhere."

We'd steer you away from it. Two things tend to go wrong: the tenant develops a direct relationship with you before we're ever involved, so they bypass our systems for repairs and questions for the life of the lease, and the lease and screening you used almost certainly isn't as protective as what we'd have used; ours has been refined across hundreds of tenancies and reviewed annually by legal counsel. If you do go this route independently, at minimum make sure you're following fair housing guidelines in how you advertise and screen, since that liability falls on whoever is doing the renting.

Yes, significantly. The Kansas City Metro straddles two states with genuinely different landlord-tenant laws, from security deposit limits to eviction notice periods. SCUDO manages properties on both sides, so we tailor leases, notices, and processes to whichever state your property sits in.

In Kansas, deposits are capped at one month's rent for an unfurnished unit and 1.5 months for a furnished one, with limited exceptions (K.S.A. 58-2550). In Missouri, the cap is higher, up to two months' rent. Either way, we'll set your deposit to the maximum your state allows.

Both states land in roughly the same place: within 30 days after the lease ends and the tenant moves out, along with an itemized list of any deductions. In Kansas specifically, returning a deposit late or wrongfully withholding part of it can expose you to damages of one and a half times the disputed amount, so precision matters here.

In Kansas, you must issue a 3-day notice to pay rent or move out before filing in court. Missouri doesn't set a fixed statutory waiting period for nonpayment, just a written demand for the rent, though most property managers, SCUDO included, build in a short grace period before moving forward. In both states, only a sheriff or court-appointed officer can physically remove a tenant after a judge issues an order; "self-help" evictions like changing locks or shutting off utilities are illegal.

This is called a holdover, and Kansas addresses it directly: a landlord can pursue damages of up to one and a half times the rental value for each month the tenant wrongfully stays past termination (K.S.A. 58-2570). Missouri handles it through the standard unlawful detainer process rather than a specific holdover penalty. In either state, the fix isn't changing the locks; it's a formal filing, which is exactly the kind of process we manage on your behalf so a holdover doesn't turn into a bigger legal misstep.

Both Kansas and Missouri require 30 days' written notice to end a month-to-month tenancy without cause (K.S.A. 58-2570; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 441.060). Kansas also allows as little as 15 days' notice from active-duty military tenants relocating under orders. Lease violations follow a different, usually shorter, timeline that gives the tenant a chance to fix the issue first.

Yes, in both states. Kansas spells this duty out directly in its Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, and Missouri recognizes the same obligation through case law and local housing codes. In practice, it means working plumbing and heat, structural safety, and compliance with local building codes, at minimum. We build preventative maintenance and regular inspections into every plan specifically to catch habitability issues before they become legal ones.

Yes. The federal Fair Housing Act applies everywhere we manage, protecting against discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Kansas enforces these protections through the Kansas Human Rights Commission, and Missouri through the Missouri Commission on Human Rights. Every screening decision we make is built around these standards so you stay covered.

As of now, no. Kansas City, Missouri passed a local ordinance in 2024 banning source-of-income discrimination, but a federal court blocked it in early 2025, and Missouri lawmakers subsequently passed a statewide law preempting local ordinances like it. Screening still has to be applied consistently and can't run afoul of the protected classes above, but voucher acceptance itself isn't currently mandated. This is an area that's shifted twice in two years, so we keep an eye on it and will flag anything that changes for your property.

Every request goes through our 24/7/365 maintenance center first, where we troubleshoot the issue, often by video, before ever dispatching anyone, which filters out a surprising number of requests that don't actually need a truck roll. From there, work goes either to our in-house SCUDO Maintenance division or to a vetted third-party vendor, depending on the job. We survey every completed work order for quality and responsiveness, and because of the volume of work we send their way, most of our vendors give us pricing better than a homeowner would get calling around independently, with no markup added on our end.

Yes. Maintenance calls are answered within three rings around the clock, and true emergencies are scheduled immediately, holidays included. Residents can submit non-urgent requests any time as well; they just won't get dispatched until it's appropriate.

We require a $500 reserve, which covers most day-to-day maintenance. All maintenance requests will be screened for resident vs owner responsibility. Regardless of responsibility, maintenance items submitted will be troubleshooted prior to work order creation.

If the repair is the resident's responsibility, vendor coordination will happen directly with the resident, and the resident will be billed upon completion. If the repair is deemed owners responsibility, the work will be completed after troubleshooting and billed to the owner. If work needed exceeds $500, the owner will be contacted for approval prior to completion. Further details may be found in our management agreement.

Not for standard, day-to-day maintenance. We've already vetted and price-checked our regular vendors against the market, and most of them don't do free quotes in the first place. If we asked for one on every water heater or garbage disposal, we'd burn through those relationships fast. For larger projects, like a full renovation between tenants, that's a different conversation and one we'd have with you directly.

As the owner, you're on the hook for anything affecting daily livability, plumbing, heat, structural issues, and anything that was working when the tenant moved in. Tenants are responsible for damage from misuse or negligence, non-termite pest control, missed vendor appointments, and day-to-day items like HVAC filters, lightbulbs, and smoke detector batteries. We spell out this division clearly in the lease so there's no ambiguity when a work order comes in.

You're welcome to refer one, but we'll need their insurance certificate, license, and a W-9 before adding them to our scheduling and payment system, and we do reserve the right to decline a vendor who doesn't meet our standards. We'd also ask that all scheduling still run through SCUDO rather than directly with you. It's not about control for its own sake: a vendor working outside our system usually means no satisfaction tracking, inconsistent invoicing, and you becoming the go-between if something goes wrong.

We'd strongly discourage it. Once you've repaired yourself, you become the direct point of contact for that issue and personally liable if something related fails later, which undercuts the whole reason for having a property manager as a buffer. It also tends to create friction with the resident if a DIY fix doesn't hold; we've seen it go sideways more often than it's saved money.

At minimum, three times a year: a move-in inspection, a periodic visit, and a move-out inspection. In practice, it's usually more; we typically add a pre-renewal walkthrough and a quality-control check after any turnover to confirm punch-list items actually got done. Our maintenance team is also trained to flag lease violations, upkeep issues, or unauthorized pets whenever they're on-site for any reason, not just during formal inspections. Owners on the Investor Benefit Package get an additional third-party inspection of major systems at least twice a year.

Direct deposit payments are initiated on the 15th of every month, and your financial statement posts the same day, both handled electronically; we don't mail physical checks. Everything is visible in real time through your owner portal rather than something you wait on.

Rent is due on the 1st. On day 2, follow-ups and contact attempts via phone/call/text are made to communicate with residents regarding missing rent; these attempts are continued throughout the duration of any rent monies owed.

If no rent is paid by the 10th, we submit the file to legal. Legal then proceeds with a 3-day notice, and all KS/MO required processes to ensure we are legally compliant throughout the entire process. If rent has not been paid by our scheduled court date, a SCUDO representative will attend court on your behalf. Most evictions take 30-45 days to receive judgment depending on resident compliance and the judge. Once a judgment is received, a SCUDO representative will meet a sheriff at the property to ensure removal of all personal belongings by the resident.

From there, the security deposit will be applied to any open balances or resident-related damages; if a balance exceeding the security deposit is owed, this will be transferred over to collections. SCUDO will provide the property owner with a bid to complete any make-ready needed on the property, as well as providing project management of the make-ready. Upon completion, the property will be re-advertised with a focus on finding a qualified resident quickly.

Whatever's owed comes out of the security deposit first. Anything beyond that gets submitted to a collections agency on your behalf, and if you'd rather pursue it legally instead, we can refer you to local landlord-tenant attorneys we trust. Either way, you're not the one making the collections call.

You'll get a full financial statement every month, plus quarterly summary reports and a year-end annual report that captures all income and expenses. Most owners hand the annual report straight to their tax preparer. Beyond the scheduled reports, you can pull a custom report yourself any time through the owner portal rather than waiting on us to generate one.

We can pay select bills like lawn care or pest control on your behalf, as long as they're sent to us at least 10 days before the due date (a 10% processing fee applies). We don't process mortgage, insurance, or HOA payments directly, so those stay on your radar.

Yes, both are included in your monthly and year-end financial statements, which most owners hand directly to their tax accountant. You'll still need to track a few things separately, like mortgage interest, so it's worth checking current IRS guidance on rental property deductions for the full picture.

Five, in plain terms: a Results Guarantee (you don't pay for leasing until we deliver a qualified tenant), a 30-Day Rental Guarantee, a Pet Guarantee, a Live Person Guarantee, and a Property Inspection Guarantee. Full details are posted at scudore.com/guarantees.

You get one month of management free. We're confident enough in our pricing and marketing strategy to put that on the line, and we take vacancy seriously enough to want the incentive pointed at us too.

We cover up to $1,000 in pet damage beyond what the security deposit covers, for any pet that's been through our screening and approval process.

Yes. We file the eviction, post required notices, manage the process, and appear in court if it gets that far. Worth knowing: the large majority of evictions we handle involve residents inherited from a self-managed property or a previous manager, not tenants we placed ourselves. Screening reduces risk significantly, but it can't predict a life event, a lost job, a divorce, a death in the family, so evictions do still happen occasionally even with a well-screened resident.

Whatever channel works best for you: phone, email, or text. A live person answers during business hours, and residents can reach a real person on the maintenance line 24/7/365. If you'd rather book dedicated time instead of playing phone tag, we also offer online appointment scheduling. Beyond reactive communication, you'll get proactive updates too, like weekly leasing reports while your property is vacant.

We'd recommend against it, even though we get the instinct completely. The moment a resident has your direct number, they tend to bypass our systems for repairs, rent questions, or complaints, turning you into a permanent relay between the tenant and SCUDO instead of removing you from day-to-day management, which is the whole point of hiring us. It also protects resident privacy on our end, something we take seriously regardless of how the relationship started.

Real-time financial statements, direct deposit history, and important documents like lease copies and annual 1099s, all powered by AppFolio. If you ever get stuck, AppFolio's own help center walks through the portal in detail.

We leverage AI and automation to increase our human to human communication where it matters. Automated rent reminders, self showings, reporting, and instant responses to prospective tenants are a few of the ways we ensure our team has the capacity to accommodate deep conversations and authentic human interactions where they matter.

Our coverage spans the full Kansas City Metro: Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Leawood, Shawnee, Prairie Village, Mission, Merriam, Fairway, Westwood, Roeland Park, Gardner, Spring Hill, Lee's Summit, Blue Springs, Liberty, North Kansas City, and Kansas City neighborhoods including Westport, Brookside, Crossroads, West Bottoms, Ward Parkway, and the Country Club Plaza, plus most of Johnson County.

Yes, we offer dedicated multi-family property management alongside our single-family services. Reach out, and we can talk through what fits your specific property.

Yes, and honestly, most of our clients do; SCUDO built its systems specifically around long-distance ownership rather than treating it as an edge case. Between the owner portal, e-signatures, proactive reporting, and a team with more than 30 combined years in the Kansas City market, you're not trading local expertise for convenience; you get both. It's also exactly why we offer investment consultation for owners buying into a market they've never lived in.

Yes. As a full real estate brokerage, we can walk you through deal analysis (does this property actually hit your return targets), a property-level walkthrough with a real scope of work and vendor cost estimates, getting the property under contract with e-signature paperwork instead of overnight mail, and if there's renovation work involved, overseeing that project directly. Once you close, the transition into ongoing management is seamless since it's the same team the whole way through. Learn more on our buyers page.

We handle that too, through our real estate services for sellers, including a half-price listing option for owners who qualify. If you're weighing whether to rent or sell, our Rent vs. Sell calculator is a good starting point before that conversation.

Yes, and this is really where a lot of the value shows up for newer investors. Whether you're buying your first rental ever or your first one specifically in Kansas City, our investment consultation service brings more than 30 combined years in this market to deal analysis, property walkthroughs, and figuring out whether a deal actually pencils out before you're committed. One thing we're upfront about: there's no such thing as fully "hands-off" investing; no matter where you live, you'll still be involved in the bigger decisions. What we're offering is to handle everything else so those are the only decisions you have to make.

Yes. Every referral who signs on for management or a sale earns you a free month of management, and it stacks: your first referral earns one free month, your second earns two, your third earns three, and so on.